`Milestone' in Japan for Bede.

Byline: By Howard Walker 

X-ray technology company Bede has secured an "important milestone" in its bid to crack the lucrative Japanese market after winning an order from one of the country's leading semiconductor manufacturers.

The unnamed company has ordered a BedeMetrix-L x-ray metrology tool which measures defects in incredibly thin materials such as those being used in the next generation of microprocessors.

The order is the first fruits of an agreement with Japanese distributor, TEL, and Durham-based Bede believes several further orders are in the pipeline as companies begin to emerge from the prolonged downturn in the technology sector.

Bede chief executive Dr Neil Loxley said: "This contract, won against strong domestic competition, is the first secured by Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) since becoming Bede's sole Japanese distributor in 2002. It represents an important milestone in Bede's penetration of the Japanese semiconductor market and the growing impact of the strong Bede-TEL relationship."

While Bede is not disclosing the value of the contract, its BedeMetrix range starts at a minimum of $300,000 (pounds 177,281) and the company believes it is a sign of a nascent upturn in its business.

Group director of technology Keith Bowen said: "A year ago, people didn't want to talk about orders, six months ago they were saying `We may have some money' and now they are either asking for quotations or placing orders. There does appear to be an upturn and companies are also getting more and more aware that x-ray metrology is a metrology for the future and the next generation of microprocessors because a number of the materials being used in new semiconductors can't be measured using traditional optical means."

Mr Bowen said the BedeMetrix-L was likely to prove popular with semiconductor manufacturers because of its versatility and its relative affordability in the x-ray metrology market.

He said: "The potential prospect list is looking quite large at the moment. We only announced this new tool in the summer and we have already got quite a long prospect list for it, both in the Far East and the US and we are absolutely hitting the market in the right place with it."

The order announced yesterday came ahead of the original schedule agreed with TEL. Mr Bowen said: "They are a marvellous company. When we set up the agreement, they said they would spend a year learning about the products and would then be in a good position to sell hard, but they are delivering orders ahead of time."

The market was cheered by the order announcement and shares in Bede rose 7.14pc yesterday to close at 30p.